Less Cannabis Found in US Mail Since Rec Sales Legalized

Medical Marijuana in Bag with Prescription Pad
Photo by: BestStockFoto/Shutterstock

Prior to the legalization of cannabis by Colorado and Washington, there were many predictions about how the world was bound for disaster should cannabis be legalized. Opponents predicted chaos on all fronts, with stoned children wandering the streets and crime going through the roof. Fortunately, absolutely none of this has come to pass, with total crime actually dropping in Colorado since legalization began.

One of these “predictions” claimed that once a few states legalized, the US Mail would become clogged with illegal packages being shipped for illegal sale in other states.

While there are in fact a lot of packages being shipped across the country from places like CO and CA, this has been happening for decades. In fact, since legalization, the numbers of these packages that have been discovered has actually dropped significantly.

Per US News, in 2014, the same year that CO and WA went rec, these numbers went way down:

“The amount of marijuana detected in the national mail system surprisingly declined in 2014 as the world’s first licensed recreational marijuana stores opened in two Western states, appearing to dash at least some predictions of chaos as other jurisdictions move to legalize the drug.

Data provided to U.S. News by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service show the number of marijuana parcels seized by inspectors fell more than 12 percent in fiscal 2014, with a coinciding decrease in the collective weight of contraband cannabis.

The fiscal year began on Oct. 1, 2013, three months before pot stores opened in Colorado, and ended on Sept. 30, 2014, three months after stores opened in Washington state.”

More examples of the hellish landscape we have created! Oh wait…